NEW YORK - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan has received a $90 million gift from Ludwig Cancer Research.

The Wall Street Journal ( http://on.wsj.com/1i9LVYU ) says it's one of six institutions to share a $540 million gift from the international scientific collaborative founded by the late shipping magnate Daniel Ludwig.

Sloan-Kettering will use its portion to support research in an emerging field called immuno-oncology.

The other institutions sharing the $540 million gift are Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of Chicago; Stanford University; and the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.

The donation is one of the largest for cancer research from a private organization. It comes after a 2006 contribution that established Ludwig Centers at each of the six institutions.